This invention relates to apparatus for the in-situ repair of pipes such as automotive engine exhaust pipes.
Internal combustion engines conventionally are equipped with exhaust manifolds coupled by pipes to catalytic converters, mufflers, and resonators. It is not uncommon for such exhaust pipes to become ruptured due to oxidation, vibration, being struck by stones, or in other ways.
When an exhaust pipe ruptures or becomes disconnected from a muffler, another pipe, a resonator, or the like, it is conventional practice to replace the entire pipe at sometimes considerable expense. Particularly is this true in those instances in which special tools are required to remove and replace retainers, clamps, and the like.
In many instances a pipe may have a rupture caused by stone damage, in which case the damage is confined to a localized area and the remainder of the pipe is sound. In other instances a pipe may be perforated due to corrosion, again in a localized zone, whereas the remainder of the pipe is sound. In still other instances a joint between two pipe sections may have deteriorated due to the reaction between the materials forming the two different sections, whereas those portions of the pipe sections on opposite sides of the joint remain in good condition.
In all of the circumstances referred to above the repair of the pipe or pipes can be effected quite simply and inexpensively by encircling the damaged zone with a relatively short tube which can be clamped onto the pipe, thereby dispensing with the need for replacing one or more whole pipe sections.
An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus of simple, inexpensive construction that is adapted to be applied to an exhaust or other pipe having a rupture or other fault therein and which is effective to seal the fault and restore the pipe to sound condition.